Hallo everyone! This is where things get really interesting, and really dramatic. Remember; criticism is always appreciated. I know I'm not a perfect author. Anyway, happy reading!

~Written by XxSniperAssassinxX

September 25, 2186

Vancouver, Canada

9:38 am

Andrew McAllen

The Alliance building was in surprisingly good shape, considering it got shot up by Reapers. A large majority of the lights and computers still worked, most of the white walls were intact, with only a few burn marks here and there.

The amount of living people in the building also surprised me. People were rushing about everywhere. Marines ran to doors to defend them against Reaper attacks, Alliance officers and techs ran from computer to computer, terminal to terminal.

Civilians filled whole rooms that were cleared out to make more space for them. Tables with weapons laying on them dotted the halls.

A group of marines were fitting civilians with armor and handing them rifles. I assumed the civilians had volunteered, but there was always the possibility the Alliance marines were simply under-manned.

We heard a loud explosion and a terminal across the hall blew up. The tech working at it flew back and hit the wall. A few people rushed over to him and he put a hand to his head, telling them to get back to work.

Katlin and I simply walked deeper into the building. A large squad of marines brushed past us, running back to where we came in from. "They must be trying to deal with all those Husks we saw back there." I thought to myself.

We walked past one of the weapon tables, and I nabbed a fragmentation grenade when the marine wasn't looking. "Might need this later."

I collapsed Rob's AT-12 and started wondering where he was. "He said he'd cover us, but I never saw him. Did something happen to him?" I kept thinking about Rob; worrying if he was alive or not.

Kat must've been able to sense my worry and gave my hand a tight squeeze. "I'm sure Rob's fine," She said reassuringly.

I nodded and squeezed her hand back. We turned a corner and walked up a few flights of stairs, going past countless floors. The higher we got, the busier things got and the more orderly chaotic they became.

We saw Alliance marines and a few officers with rocket launchers and sniper rifles firing from windows. Marines with shotguns guarded doors, and techs and officers with pistols patrolled the area.

We got higher up and turned into a large open room. I realized that the room was open from the massive burning hole in the side of it, opening it up to the outside. "This must be that huge hole we saw." I walked over to the edge and looked down.

Gunfire was raining down onto a massive crowd of Batarians and Husks. I spat down on the group and waited a few seconds. A Batarian look up at the hole, but must not have been able to see me.

I chuckled, remembering when I used to do that all the time to kids at my school.

Then I heard Katlin scream.

I turned around and found her kneeling next to a puddle of blood. I looked a bit closer and noticed a body; the puddle around it's head.

Then I noticed the black Norwegian jacket.

My eyes went wide and I rushed over to him.

"Rob!" I shouted as I skidded to a stop next to him. He was either unconscious or dead. His skull was cracked and his rifle was missing. His clothes and body seemed to be unharmed, except for his head, which was bleeding badly.

I activated my omni-tool and applied the medi-gel I always kept in reserve, in case we needed it at the apartment.

His head healed, but he still didn't move. I checked his breathing and felt small shallow breaths coming from his mouth.

"He's just unconscious." I told Katlin. She let out a sigh of relief as a tear rolled down her face. I grabbed her hand and squeezed, then got up to look around a bit more.

After failing to find the bags or the M-97 Viper Rob had, I walked back to the hole and heard something hit the floor next to me. I looked to my left and saw Admiral Anderson, The Admiral Anderson, looking at me.

His uniform was burnt and torn. He looked like he'd been in a serious fight, and it wouldn't surprise me if he was. He looked over our little group, the M-3 Predator in his hand raised slightly.

"Who're all of you?" He asked us. Katlin was too busy tending to Rob, so I answered.

"We're civilians. We came from that apartment building over there," I pointed to our apartment and realized it wasn't there. It was now a large pile of rubble on the street.

I couldn't believe our apartment, our home, was now just a pile of rubble. Anderson patted my back to wake me up. "It's all right, son. Go on. You came from that apartment building?"

"Yeah," I replied. "We came from there and worked our way through the streets to this building. Our friend, Robert," I pointed back at Rob's unconscious body. "Found a sniper rifle and spotted you and Commander Shepard running across the roof. Then he ran into a building to cover us with the rifle.

"He never did, though, and I have no idea how he ended up here. We helped some Alliance marines down by the entrance hold back waves of Husks and those Reaperfied Batarian things, but the marines were overwhelmed. Katlin," I pointed back at Katlin. "And I managed to escape into the building while this Reapers were focused on the Alliance marines."

Anderson pondered this for a moment. "I see. Those Batarians and called Cannibals. They consume dead bodies of other Cannibals and armor themselves with the absorbed tissue. How did you help the marines?"

I showed Anderson Rob's AT-12 Raider in my hand and pointed to my M-3 Predator next to Katlin. "We had those, and I'm a biotic. Aria T'Loak trained me herself." That obviously got Anderson's attention. "Aria T'Loak? So you grew up on Omega?"

I nodded. "Yeah," I began. "My parents were killed in a gang war on Omega. I got revenge by killing the entire opposing gang. That got the attention of Aria. She took me in, trained me, treated me like her son -er- daughter."

Both Anderson and I chuckled a bit, then I continued ranting. "After a while, I wanted to get off Omega and see what outside life was like. I went to Noveria and met Robert and Katlin."

He raised an eyebrow at my story. "Interesting. You must be a pretty powerful biotic then, being trained by Aria."

I nodded and felt a slight shudder in the floor. Anderson noticed it too. We felt another shudder, and a deep, electric, monstrous noise come from outside the building. Anderson and I looked outside and saw a Reaper heading towards us.

This wasn't one of the small ones, either. This was one of the big ones. The building crushers. The ones that blow through dreadnaughts like wet tissue paper.

That wasn't all that was coming at us, either. There were a group of those dragon things, swarms of the orbs, and two more little Reapers following the big one.

"Shit biscuits," I mumbled. "That's a lot of Reapers."

Anderson turned around and walked toward Rob. "We need to get everyone out of here. How many people are left in this building?"

"Lots," I replied. "We saw a ton of techs, officers, and marines coming up. And I'm sure this isn't even the top floor. I doubt we'd be able to get everyone out in time." Anderson kneeled down next to Rob and Kat.

He looked at Kat and put a hand on her shoulder. "Come with me. We'll get you and your friend out of here. If I can get him medical attention, he'll be alright."

Katlin nodded and I noticed little tears rolling down her cheeks. Anderson grunted as he picked Rob up and tossed him over his shoulder.

I grabbed Katlin's hand and helped her up. I wiped her tears and she smiled weakly up at me.

We walked back down a few stories, the building constantly being rocked by explosions.

Anderson was ordering officers around, and the officers passed on Anderson's order to everyone else. This had to have been the most orderly evacuation I've ever seen. We didn't exactly have single-file lines to the shuttlebay, but it wasn't complete chaos either.

Marines were still firing into the horde outside the building, but the officers were directing everyone else, including the techs, to the shuttle bay to be evacuated.

The civilians were loaded into the shuttles first, then the techs, and then officers. Once a shuttle was filled, it hovered at the top of the hanger to make room for more shuttles to land and be loaded.

The evacuation was going smoothly until a massive explosion rocked the building. Everything stopped. The entire building was dead silent. We heard another explosion, and a stack of crates fell over.

"Keep the evacuation going!" Anderson shouted above the silence. A few marines relayed his orders, and the evacuation commenced. Katlin and I watched from behind the pile of fallen crates, Rob's unconscious body leaning against a nearby wall.

Anderson walked over and tapped me on the shoulder to get my attention. "We need more riflemen. You know how to fire a rifle?" I nodded in reply. "Great. Follow me and we'll get you suited up."

He walked off toward a heavy-looking door that a marine armed with a Scimitar Assault Shotgun was guarding. I followed, and the marine let him in, but stopped me.

"This area is restricted to civilians." He told me with a gruff british accent.

Anderson tapped his helmet. "He's with me, Major." The marine nodded and let me through.

The room we had entered was an improvised armory. There were tables and lockers overflowing with weapons and ammunition. Crates were filled with armor and medi-gel. Anderson grabbed an M-99 Sabre from a locker and handed it to me.

It expanded and revealed an assault rifle thermal scope attached to it. I examined it for a moment and shouldered it, finding it fit me perfectly, although it was rather heavy. I set the rifle down on a crate and Anderson tossed me a blue Alliance marine helmet. I examined it for a moment and looked up at Anderson.

"You're going to need armor, son." He said as he set a crate with the rest of the armor down at my feet. "That rifle also has a thermal clip upgrade. You're going to be sharpshooting with Major Coats."

I stared at the Admiral, a bit shocked. I finally got out of my trance and snapped to a salute. "Yes, sir!"

After I got in my shiny new armor, which I just put on over my clothes, Anderson and I walked out of the armory. The Major noticed me in the set of armor with the rifle, grabbed my arm, and just stared at me. He then look at Anderson. "What the hell is this kid doing in armor, sir?"

Anderson put a hand on the Major's shoulder. "Coats, I know Daniel's death is still fresh, but you need another sharpshooter. The rest of our marines are holding off the Reapers, and I can't spare anyone else. This kid here held off waves of husks and cannibals. He can hold is own in a fight," Anderson patted him on the shoulder. "Just trust me here." The Major nodded and let go of my arm.

"Though I am a bit nervous about taking civilian volunteers," Anderson continued as the three of us walked to a shuttle at the far end of the room. I looked over at Rob and Katlin when we passed them. Rob was still out cold, and Katlin was watching over him. I smiled a little and thought to myself, "She's always so helpful." My smile vanished. "I hope they'll be okay…."

Once we reached the shuttle, Anderson turned to face us. "Andrew, do you know how to fly a UT-47 Kodiak?"

I looked at the controls for a moment, then back at Anderson. "How much different is it from a skycar?"

Anderson chuckled a bit. "Not that different. So I take it you can fly one?" I nodded. "Good," Anderson continued. "You'll be my pilot." He turned to face Coats. "Grab that crate over there," Anderson pointed to a crate near the door leading into the hanger. "And put it in the shuttle. Then bring Andrew's friends and anyone else who isn't on a shuttle already here as well."

Coats saluted and went off to follow Anderson's orders.

Anderson left to continue organizing the evacuation, and I decided to take a look at the shuttle controls. They looked complicated from a distance, but as I got closer I realized they weren't that much different from skycar controls.

I heard footsteps behind me and I saw Coats set down the crate. That's when we felt another explosion. But this one didn't feel like it came from outside. It felt like it came from inside the building. From right outside this room. Once again, everything stopped dead, even Coats was frozen in place.

Anderson rushed into the shuttle as we felt another one. "There's a reaper right outside the hangar! We need to launch now!" I nodded, and Anderson tapped Coats on the shoulder. "Everyone but Andrew's friends are in shuttles, go get them and get them on here so we can lift off." Coats rushed out of the shuttle, and there was another building-shaking explosion.

Anderson sat down in the co-pilot seat and we began warming the shuttle up. I turned the ventral thrusters on and the shuttle jumped about a foot off the ground. Katlin, Rob, and Coats hopped into the shuttle and sat down as we felt yet another explosion. Anderson turned on his Omni-tool and issued the order to evacuate.

A large pair of doors at the far end of the hangar opened and a Reaper Destroyer peered it's head inside.

My eyes went wide as it powered up it's canon. I pulled the shuttle up and it fired at the shuttle closest to it. The shuttle exploded and hit the floor. Every other shuttle rose up the the roof and a couple of them tried getting out over the Destroyer, and it shot down every one of them.

While I was trying to figure out how the hell we were going to get out of here, every shuttle in the hangar rushed the Reaper. Once I noticed how they were all trying to go over the Reaper, I got an idea. I lowered us back to the hangar floor and gunned it.

While the Reaper was focused on shooting down the fleet of shuttles going over it, it didn't notice the one shuttle going below it. Just before we reached the hangar doors, a flaming shuttle crashed right in front of us and took out our front right thruster. We banked hard right from the impact and skidded on the floor.

I barely managed to pull up and steady the shuttle before hitting the Reaper's leg. I struggled to dodge the Reaper's other leg as it began backing up. I looked over at Anderson once we were clear of the Reaper.

As soon as we were clear, Anderson ordered the remaining shuttles to an old shipyard a few miles east of here. I looked around and saw about four of the formerly twelve shuttles fly off to the coordinates Anderson gave them.

I turned to Anderson. "Can we make it to the shipyard with the damage?"

"We should be able to. I don't think one thruster will make much of a difference."

I nodded and looked at the four surviving shuttles again.

While Anderson was flying the shuttle to the shipyard, I decided to go check on Rob and Katlin. Rob was harnessed into a seat, still out cold. Katlin was in the seat next to him, holding onto the harness, her eyes closed tight.

Coats was standing in the middle of the shuttle like he had done this a thousand times. I walked past Coats and kneeled down in front of Katlin. Her knuckles were white, and she was shaking.

I placed one of my hands over hers and started lightly stroking it with my thumb. Eventually, she opened her eyes and looked at me with small tears in her eyes. I smiled a little and kissed her forehead just before the shuttle began violently shaking.

Katlin squeaked and closed her eyes again, tightening her grip on the harness. Coats was strapping into a seat as I got up and sat back down in the cockpit. "The shuttle can't stay in the air for much longer!" Anderson shouted above the sound of the shuttle shaking. "We need somewhere to set down!"

I looked around the heavily damaged city for a place to land. Surprisingly, most buildings were still standing. They were burnt, falling apart, flaming, and nearly demolished, but still standing.

I kept looking until I found a Hospital with a landing pad on the roof. The building had several large holes in the sides, half of one side had collapsed, and there was a group of Cannibals patrolling the roof. I looked back at Coats and shouted above the shuttle shaking, "Coats, I'm gonna land us on a building with a Cannibal patrol. You ready?"

Coats got out of his harness and expanded his M-98 Widow sniper rifle. "I'm ready," he replied.

I circled around the pad once before opening the side door. Even with the shuttle shaking itself apart, Coats fired his rifle and downed a Cannibal. The death of their comrade got their attention better than the shuttle did.

Four of the six, formerly seven, Cannibals began firing on us while the other two proceeded to consume the fallen Reaper. Coats reloaded and fired again, popping the head of a Cannibal engaging us.

I struggled to set the shuttle down with the damage and gunfire hindering me. When a grenade pinged off the cockpit, I finally just said fuck it.

I turned to shuttle to face the Cannibals, and I began my descent. "Brace for impact!" I shouted at everyone in the back as Anderson and I braced ourselves against the controls. It was a couple seconds before we crashed into the group, sending all five remaining Cannibals flying off the roof.

We skidded for several meters before coming to a stop right at the edge of the roof. I quickly got up and checked on everyone. Anderson was fine, Coats had barely managed to get into his harness in time, Katlin had passed out, and Rob was still out as well. I turned back to Anderson. "Anderson, you have things handled here?"

He nodded yes, and I continued. "I'm gonna go look around, see if I can find some supplies or something to repair the shuttle." I pulled out my Sabre and expanded it.

As soon as I did that, Katlin began waking up. I set my Sabre on an empty seat and helped her come to. The groaned and put a hand to her head, shaking it slightly. "You okay?" I asked her softly.

She nodded yes, then looked over at Rob. He was still unconscious, and I was starting to get worried that he'd never wake up. The sound of Coats slamming a fresh thermal clip into his Widow snapped me back to my previous task. I whispered to Coats, "Keep them safe," And walked out of the shuttle.

Before I got a meter from the shuttle, I heard Katlin scream at me. I ran back inside and she tackle-hugged me. "I'm coming with you!" She said.

"No, you need to stay here with Anderson and Coats. It's too dangerous for you to come with me. " I replied. She pulled an M-8 Avenger out of the weapons locker on the shuttle and expanded it, shouldering the rifle.

"If it's too dangerous for me," She began. "Then it's too dangerous for you. Yeah, you've got your biotics and your fancy armor and rifle, but you can still get killed. You don't have anyone to watch your back, and you don't have anyone to help you. Rob's still out, Anderson and Coats need to stay here to guard the shuttle. I'm the only one who can come with you."

I stared down at her, and she stared back up at me with both defiance and fear in her eyes. "Fine," I growled. "But if I say get down, you drop. If I say stay where you are, you don't move an inch. I'm I'm pinned down and I tell you to run, you run back here as fast as you can. Okay?" She hesitated before nodding yes.

We had barely walked ten meters from the shuttle before a grenade exploded and threw me off the roof.